The first week was a success! I hope your first grader enjoyed it. We have a fantastic group this year, and I can't wait for us to continue getting to know one another.

Thank you for your help in getting your child prepared for school each day. The children loved sharing their favorite books, and we will continue working with them this week. Please remember that the coins are due on Monday and the photo of a family member doing some form of writing is due on Tuesday.

I hope this website will be useful to you over the course of the year. Most weeks, I'll update this blog to post about what we're doing in 1-Bu. There are also a few links on the left which may be useful to you.The students did a great job last week learning many new routines and procedures that will help make 1-Bu an efficient and hard working team. You should ask your child how we ask to go to the bathroom and/or get a drink in 1-Bu! (Here's a hint if they've forgotten over the weekend - we use hand signals/sign language.)

Reading workshop was incredibly successful last week. The students already have the routine down pat! We always start off by getting ready for reading workshop, which means that we put our book bins in the right spots. Then, we all meet at the rug for a mini lesson. After that, the students go off and read. Finally, we come back to the rug for a share. I'm really impressed with how well the students have done during each part of reading workshop, but am particularly impressed with how engaged they have been during the independent reading time.

In math, the students enjoyed played a couple math games. Monster Squeeze was a familiar game for many of them from last year, but Penny Dice was new for all. The students also created pictures using shapes from pattern block templates.

I look forward to seeing many of you at Back to School Night on Thursday. In the short time I have with you that night, I will do my best to go over what we do in first grade and many important things that you can do to help your child have a successful year. Also, please keep in mind that Thursday is a half day for the students. There will be no lunch that day, and they will be dismissed at 12:45pm. On 12:45 days, I give the students a little extra time to have their snacks. So, if you wish to provide your child with a larger snack that day, you may do so.

Please don't ever hesitate to write me a note or send me an email. I know that the beginning of the year can often be confusing, and that you may have questions or concerns. I look forward to working with all of you to make this a great year!